" This requires a very small screwdriver to unlock the conductor pins from the connector and swap them around to the desired slots"

What does it mean 'unlock'? Can someone explain a little more? Got this fan but have no idea how to start?

Thx

Examine the connector closely, and you'll see that each of the 4 metal pins have a little protrusion that clips into a hole in the plastic rectangular housing. That's what locks it in place. There are 4 of these little square-ish holes on one side of the connector. Push against the metal visible in one of these holes while pulling gently on the wire that the pin is connected to (this is what you need a tiny screwdriver for). This will unlock the pin and it will slide out easily.

The E3's in these things are really impressive stuff. Really bloody powerful, and really efficient. Supposedly an 'Entry level server', but these things fly.

"The server is also easy on power consumption with our in-line power meter clocking the review system at only 35W with Windows Server 2008 R2 in idle. With the SiSoft Sandra benchmarking application exercising the eight logical cores of the Xeon E3 processor this peaked at only 97W."

Your MicroServer article suggest an idle power usage of 37W. Given that idle time is most of the time, the ML110 would easily match the micro server on total power usage.

The one I have is quiet, she only revs up when worked. Moderate amount of vibration though. Probably cheap HDD's. I don't think vertical mounts help.

Does this site not cover efficient/quiet performance and feature orientated machines?

Servers are not typical consumer products. If HP was eager to have one reviewed & sent us one to review, we would not say no, but it's not something we normally seek out. The Microserver is a unique exception in many ways.

Thank you for the review Mike. Most particularly, thank you for the fan mod information. I have the faster N40L model of this microserver at home, and have had it for over a year now. I love it, my only complaint is the noise level being a bit high. I had suspected the small fan on the power supply. Now I have guidance on curing this.

A few extra things that might help: For those that will run FreeNAS; that OS boots off a USB stick, and there is an internal USB socket right at the front of the motherboard. That means this stick is inside the locked front cover, out of harm's way, and away from tampering. I have run mine up with a 4TB Hitachi drive. Not that I would recommend that drive. It was installed as an experiment, as it was going into a different machine. But they work. I only run the listed maximum of 8GB memory, but apparently they will support 16GB - at least.

For those who want to use these machines in a business setting, and a friend of mine does (the even later N54L), I suggest the Remote Management board - web access to the machine is much more than a useful addition. If you do add one, note that the normal VGA outlet is replaced by the one on that card - this caught him out. That HP also offer on-site support contracts (well they do here in Australia), is another huge benefit.

Thanks for the article and information on swapping the connector pins for replacing the fan.

I tried an Akasa Apache fan as suggested by other posters in this thread but my MicroServer N54L refused to boot claiming the fan was missing.

I booted into the BIOS with the original fan in place and navigated to the fan speed page (it was spinning at 900+ RPM). I then did a fast hot swap of the fans to install the pin-modded Akasa Apache and I found the BIOS was reporting a speed below 500 RPM, at around 490 RPM.

The Apache spec states the minimum speed is 600 RPM, and mine may be a duff one, but I thought people may be interested in knowing that this fan may not be suitable.

On the other hand if anyone has any ideas where I may have gone wrong I'd be interested to hear (I'm pretty sure I got the pin swap correct, I double and triple checked).

Edit 1.7.13:I have now installed a Coolink SWiF2-120P and this works fine in my N54L.

Any other ideas on fan models that can be used as replacements? The Scythe fan (SY1225SL12HPVC) seems to be discontinued and it could be a bother to find around these parts. Should I order one before stock is completely depleted?

my hp microserver gen8 has a 5 wire configuration for the case fan connector >< i bought a 3 pin scythe fan rated at a constant 1900rpm coz i figured that the 30% setting would still keep rpm >500.

Fail!

Does anyone know if this is because the fourth pin was missing? or if it is simply because the fan was not sufficient to meet the needs of the bios settings?

Cheers

We've just started to explore the issue of how to deal with the too-fast fan in our Gen8 sample. That 6-pin, 5-wire plug is a total PITA, but it's basically a modified 4-pin PWM, with 2 ground wires. The reason your fan didn't work is that it needs to be a PWM fan.

AFAIK, the color coding used by HP is the same as in the original Microserver, and the fan mod page of my article whose the key between HPs and standard 4-pin wiring. So get a standard 4-pin PWM fan (max 2000rpm, I'd say) and try pin-matching. Getting a fan plug of the type HP uses could be a pain.

Hi. I'm new here and just got an HP Microserver Gen7 N54L. I'm not quite satisfied with the sound levels of the stock fan and would like to replace it, but haven't meddled with computer cooling in over half a decade, so I feel rather insecure. Unfortunately the fan used as a replacement in the review has been discontinued and isn't available anywhere I've looked. So I skimmed through this thread hoping to find other suggestions, and while there are a few, I haven't been able to find them at Swedish retailers either.From what I've understood, the fan needs to be at least 1800 RPM? Would for example Scythe Glide Stream 120mm 1900rpm, Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850rpm, or Akasa Viper 2000rpm work? If I my budget wasn't so limited, I would buy one or two and try, but unfortunately it is, so it feels like gambling.

Edit: Does anyone know what impact a noise absorption mat in the front door would have on noise and temperature?

...Would for example Scythe Glide Stream 120mm 1900rpm, Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850rpm, or Akasa Viper 2000rpm work? If I my budget wasn't so limited, I would buy one or two and try, but unfortunately it is, so it feels like gambling.

Edit: Does anyone know what impact a noise absorption mat in the front door would have on noise and temperature?

Yes, those fans would work fine.

Don't block the door -- it will hurt cooling and cause the thermal fan controller to speed up the fan, causing more noise.

Don't block the door -- it will hurt cooling and cause the thermal fan controller to speed up the fan, causing more noise.

Thank you. I think I will go with the Akasa Viper as the Scythe Gentle Typhoon unfortunately isn't a PWM fan, which if I understood correctly is a requirement, and the Scythe Glide Stream is rated 36.3 dB compared to the Viper's 28.9.

I wonder, how much impact does dust filters have on cooling? I'm thinking of putting one where the 120mm fan is and in the front instead of noise absorption material. (As well as a vibration absorbing gasket, if there's enough space.) Not sure what to use as a dust filter for the front though that doesn't inhibit airflow too much; it's surprisingly difficult to find suitable products. I'll give reducing vibration noise from the hard drives a try as well.

Thank you for your review too, btw. It played a major factor in my choice to get the HP Microserver.

Given the form factor of the Microserver, which makes it ideal for shelf or desktop mounting rather than floor, I find dust not to be a problem at all. Unmodified aside from the fan & replacement of the optical drive with an SSD for the OS, our review sample has been working as SPCR's primary server (w/ 4 HDDs) in a closet under the stairs, on a shelf ~5' high. It exhibits no dust after 2+ years in this role.

Also, I doubt anything can be done to reduce HDD vibration within the machine. The HDD brackets and slots leave no wiggle room whatsoever. What you can do is sit the whole machine on a thick pad of soft foam, which will reduce transmission & amplification of the HDD vibrations into/by whatever it's sitting on -- desktops & shelves are near-ideal sound boards.

Thanks to SPCR and its community for the loads of useful info they provide!

I recently got me a Microserver 54L and would like to replace the stock 120mm fan, as its now the main source of noise in my computer room (mechanical keyboard aside ).I was hoping to use a Noiseblocker PL-2 I have lying around. As you can see from the link, it's a non-PWM fan rated @ 1400rpm. Do you think it'd work on the Microserver if I arrange the connector pinout appropriately?

Thanks to SPCR and its community for the loads of useful info they provide!

I recently got me a Microserver 54L and would like to replace the stock 120mm fan, as its now the main source of noise in my computer room (mechanical keyboard aside ).I was hoping to use a Noiseblocker PL-2 I have lying around. As you can see from the link, it's a non-PWM fan rated @ 1400rpm. Do you think it'd work on the Microserver if I arrange the connector pinout appropriately?

No, it MUST be a pwm fan, otherwise, it will simply run at full speed... and the control circuit might not "see" it and shut the system down.

No, it MUST be a pwm fan, otherwise, it will simply run at full speed... and the control circuit might not "see" it and shut the system down.

Thanks for the reply.The fan running at full speed would not be much of a problem (I could control it externally), but the system shutting down...now, I can see that being an issue! Guess I'll have to shell out the cash for another fan.

Sure enough, the Microserver 54L would shut down after a while as it couldn't detect the fan.Too bad, because the Noiseblocker PL2 was very quiet even at full speed.

I'm thinking of ordering a Scythe GlideStream (model SY1225HB12M-P, as reviewed here). Any objections in terms of the specific application?

The SY1225HB12M-P may be too slow -- top speed is only ~1300rpm. You really need a >1800rpm fan, ideally one with a speed control so you can slow it down to the point where it doesn't bother you AND doesn't lead to computer shutdown.

The SY1225HB12M-P may be too slow -- top speed is only ~1300rpm. You really need a >1800rpm fan, ideally one with a speed control so you can slow it down to the point where it doesn't bother you AND doesn't lead to computer shutdown.

Thanks Mike. Back to the fan hunting game, then!I guess I should be looking about "high speed" variants and not absolutely silent, then.

See if you can find one of the fans we used -- Slip Stream 120 PWM : scythe sy1225sl 12hpvc-v

That was my first choice, but for some reason they discontinued this "adjustable rpm" product line.I was able to locate the 140mm variant (SM1425SL12HPVC-V) in stock, but there's no room in there to fit an 140mm-to-120mm adapter in there.

I can find the SlipStream fan locally at a very good price, but those max noise ratings (on both of the above Scythe models) look a bit scary without under-voltage.The Noiseblocker is very tempting (I also like the company) but the specific model is hard to source locally at a reasonable price. I have had no experience with Akasa fans in the past, but this fan looks interesting as well - and I can buy it locally.

You might be OK with a slower fan. Read through my mod addendum page; you'll see that slower fans did work, but not consistently. It might be worth trying the 1300rpm fan. If it doesn't work, you won't have wasted too much time but if it does work, it'll probably spin at <800rpm, which is great for noise.

Made a quick Excel table just for the fun of it (attached - based on manufacturer values ofc).

I have a hefty stock of Noiseblocker (non-PWM, PL2) case fans already, otherwise I'd just grab both an ~1300 and a ~2000 RPM fan; they are all relatively affordable.I'm thinking I'll just go for a 1300-1500 one (I can find the Scythe and Akasa locally, BeQuiet from Amazon) - the vendor will probably let me exchange it for another one if things don't work out.

Update: The Scythe GlideStream SY1225HB12M-P didn't work (as expected ), so I'll go for a Coolink SwiF2-120P (worked for someone earlier in this thread) or the NB eLoop B12-P (which is more or less certain to work as well as it has high min-max RPM).I was almost set for the Akasa Apache as it's silent and seems to do the trick for many Microserver owners - but, strangely enough, I also came across reports of people who weren't as lucky.[Btw, I'm using a modded BIOS which allows you to disable the automatic fan management, alas it didn't affect the chassis fan's behavior. Perhaps it refers to the CPU fan.]

Update #2: Some calling around helped me dig up a local store which still had stock of SY1225SL12HPVC-V fans, even though they were not listed on their website! I should have it in a couple of days, so I'd like to think the case is closed. I have updated the table with even more fans, just in case someone stumbles on this thread in the future; of those listed, I suppose anything with a high-ish "min RPM" (i.e. 600rpm or higher) should work, while 500 rpm ones are borderline.

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